MAURO, Francesco, Gasparo and Pietro (designers). [ La Glorïa d'Amore ]. A bound collection of designs for an aquatic spectacle. [N.p.: ca.1690].

MAURO, Francesco, Gasparo and Pietro (designers). [ La Glorïa d'Amore ]. A bound collection of designs for an aquatic spectacle. [N.p.: ca.1690]. Oblong 2° (460 x 360mm. approx). 16 engraved plates (2 folding, 6 counter-proofs), three by Antonio Verga, 12 by Sebastiano Bianchi, one unsigned, all after the Mauro brothers. (Neat repairs to most plates.) Old vellum (lightly soiled). Provenance : Principis Burghesii (armorial bookplate). A fine Fête book comprising a theatrical collection of designs by one of the first great Italian families of scenic artists. The first two large folding plates illustrate the 'sets', the remaining plates of the various water-borne vehicles bearing various characters from the spectacle. An indistinct pencilled note on the upper cover appears to identify the designs as being for a spectacle entitled Gloria d'Amore . The Berlin Kat. (4138) describes a work of the same title, with the same engravers and designers, but with a title, text and only 15 smaller plates: La Gloria D'Amore. Spettacolo Festivo Fatto Rappresentare dal... Duca Di Parma Sopra L'Acque Della Gran Peschiera Novamente Fatta Nel Suo Giardino Per gl'acclamati Sponfali del... Principe Odoardo... Con la... Principessa Dorotea Sofia Di Neoburgo... Poesia d'Aurelio Aureli... Musica di D. Bernardo Sabadini... In Parma, Nella Stampa Ducale. 1690. Hartnoll writes that Domenico and Gasparo Mauro were active in both Vienna and Dresden. Their father Francesco had 'five sons, of whom three were decorators and two machinists, and they made their enormous reputation first in Venice. They passed to Piacenza, to Parma, and thence to wider fields beyond the Alps.' ( Oxford Companion to the Theatre , 1951, p.713).